JUNE 29, 2017 // 23
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BOOKMONGER
Taut crime novel
has many layers
Black Heron Press is a serious literary press that exists
out on the outskirts of Seattle. For a couple of decades now,
it has published novels, nonfiction and poetry volumes that,
in one way or another, examine the underbelly of the Ameri-
can promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Author Leonard Chang is one of Black Heron’s great
finds. New York-born, Harvard-educated, and now making a
living as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, Chang’s first novel,
“The Fruit ‘N Food,” won the Black Heron Press Award for
Social Fiction and was published in 1994. Since then, the
press has published several more of Chang’s books.
The latest is a crime novel called “The Lockpicker.”
The title character is Jake Ahn, who lives in Seattle. He
works by day in a restaurant and in his off-hours as a profes-
sional thief.
Against his better judgment, Jake teams up to do a home
functional family.
burglary with Tommy, a psychopath with an
Instead of finding temporary sanctuary
amphetamine problem. Their effort begins to
with Eugene, Jake only brings more chaos
go sideways when Tommy overreacts during
into his brother’s disintegrating household.
the getaway.
It turns out to be impossible to dispose of the
Then it gets worse: Tommy pulls a gun
past. Hobgoblins always find a way to return
and tries to pull a double-cross. Jake resists,
to haunt the survivors.
and in the ensuing tussle, Tommy gets shot
Chang layers suspense, betrayal and
in the gut.
revenge with the same precision he uses
Jake leaves him for dead in a dumpster,
to describe casing a joint, picking a lot,
and splits to the Bay Area to lie low at his
extracting information or making love. “The
brother’s place.
Lockpicker” is taut and literally gut-wrench-
But life hasn’t been treating Eugene Ahn
ing entertainment, excellently conceived.
so well. He has been working long hours for
But it is also so much more. Caught up in
a high-tech start-up that is beginning to lose
the throes of the action, or distracted by the
steam. Eugene’s wife, Rachel, is likewise
various specters that wisp through the text,
disenchanted with her work as a banker and
the reader may not pay attention to the rich
is about to quit her job. They are weighed
“The Lockpicker”
symbolism in this work, or to the essen-
down by debt. There is tension in their mar-
By Leonard Chang
tial framework that Chang quietly begins
riage.
Black Heron Press
Jake’s arrival does nothing to help matters
constructing from the get-go, as elemental to
365 pp
between the couple. The Ahn brothers hav-
human existence as DNA — values such as
$16.95
en’t kept in close touch over the years. Eu-
compassion, trustworthiness and justice that,
gene disapproves of Jake’s criminal activity
if not annealed by love, ultimately will fail.
and has made it clear he wants nothing to do
The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMi-
with it. But Rachel is intrigued, and wants to know more.
chael, who writes this weekly column focusing on the books,
With Jake, she also probes another topic her husband
authors and publishers of the Pacific Northwest. Contact her
won’t talk about much — the Ahn boys’ childhood in a dys-
at bkmonger@nwlink.com
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